Demaholics Anonymous
For most of my voting life I have been an avid supporter of the Democrat Party. I went on my merry way voting for the Dems feeling I had done my duty that I had voted for the least worst of what was out there. I never believed the Dems were saints but to me the Republicans were so bloody awful I felt it was an easy call to vote Dem.
So if I was so supportive of the Democrats in the past why do I come down on them so hard in my posts? I first heard about “blogs” when I was reading a Molly Ivins column and she mentioned Josh Marshall at TPM. At the time I was impressed with Marshall’s writings an obviously intelligent individual. At that time I was still very much in the Democrat camp so that was all quite nice and fit in with my world view very neatly. Also I used to have long talks with my father on the topic of politics during the last years of his life. My father grew up in the Great Depression the son of a poor farmer who had emigrated from Italy and changed his name from Pagna to Payne for various reasons.
My father had an extremely forceful personality, which is putting it mildly, and also was a brilliant man and having experienced the Great Depression was a firm believer in the Democrat Party and this of course influenced me since I for the most part had a great deal of respect for my father’s opinions also as I experienced the sixties watching Martin Luther King and his fight for equality for all peoples and hearing his inspiring speeches as well as those of Bobby Kennedy it left an indelible mark on my world view. Then came George W. Bush with his criminal invasion of a small country that had done no harm to us which only calcified my beliefs that Republicans were bad and Democrats were good. Little did I suspect that my world view was about to be shattered. Of course I was angry with Democrats for giving Bush the green light for invasion but I kept making excuses for the Democrats. Well, you know, they are in the minority, they have to please the conservatives blah, blah, blah and I am sure you have heard all the rest.
One day I was reading another Molly Ivins column and she mentioned This Modern World with Tom Tomorrow the wonderful political cartoonist. As I was reading This Modern World on a regular basis I eventually saw a post by Jonathan Schwarz which led me to his very original website. There I began reading things that did not jibe with my world view but Jonathan made a lot of sense, and still does, to me and I began looking askance at the Democrats. Through Jonathan I discovered Dennis Perrin of Red State Son and others. I loved the writings of Dennis Perrin though I was a bit disturbed with his criticisms of my patron saints the Democrats. I wrote Dennis some emails and he was kind enough to reply. And of course though I was angry with the Democrats I for a while defended them rigorously but Dennis really made me think about my views with his thoughtful and patient replies. At any rate to cut this babble a bit shorter I started paying more attention to what the Democrats were doing and the facts were undeniable. I realized the Democrats were not only merely paying lip service to being against the Iraq War but worst still they actually support the idea of American Imperialism or neo-colonialism. Aghh! The proof is in the pudding as they say and if you read this earlier post of mine you will see what I mean.
Here.
The war in Iraq is immoral by any standards of decency. The Democrats have given Bush everything his little Grinch heart desired including financing the Iraq War well into 2009. There are now an estimated over one million deaths in Iraq as a result of the invasion. The Democrats have fully supported this war and continue to do so. In my opinion this makes voting for the Democrats an act that is immensely immoral for to vote for the Democrats is to vote in favor of the Iraq War. I simply cannot do this and will not do this in the next election. I think the clearest and best way to let our errant Democrats know that they screwed the pooch so to speak is to not vote for them. I can’t think of any other way to give them notice that we do not believe in American Imperialism no matter how they package it. Please, don’t be a Demaholic like I was.
So if I was so supportive of the Democrats in the past why do I come down on them so hard in my posts? I first heard about “blogs” when I was reading a Molly Ivins column and she mentioned Josh Marshall at TPM. At the time I was impressed with Marshall’s writings an obviously intelligent individual. At that time I was still very much in the Democrat camp so that was all quite nice and fit in with my world view very neatly. Also I used to have long talks with my father on the topic of politics during the last years of his life. My father grew up in the Great Depression the son of a poor farmer who had emigrated from Italy and changed his name from Pagna to Payne for various reasons.
My father had an extremely forceful personality, which is putting it mildly, and also was a brilliant man and having experienced the Great Depression was a firm believer in the Democrat Party and this of course influenced me since I for the most part had a great deal of respect for my father’s opinions also as I experienced the sixties watching Martin Luther King and his fight for equality for all peoples and hearing his inspiring speeches as well as those of Bobby Kennedy it left an indelible mark on my world view. Then came George W. Bush with his criminal invasion of a small country that had done no harm to us which only calcified my beliefs that Republicans were bad and Democrats were good. Little did I suspect that my world view was about to be shattered. Of course I was angry with Democrats for giving Bush the green light for invasion but I kept making excuses for the Democrats. Well, you know, they are in the minority, they have to please the conservatives blah, blah, blah and I am sure you have heard all the rest.
One day I was reading another Molly Ivins column and she mentioned This Modern World with Tom Tomorrow the wonderful political cartoonist. As I was reading This Modern World on a regular basis I eventually saw a post by Jonathan Schwarz which led me to his very original website. There I began reading things that did not jibe with my world view but Jonathan made a lot of sense, and still does, to me and I began looking askance at the Democrats. Through Jonathan I discovered Dennis Perrin of Red State Son and others. I loved the writings of Dennis Perrin though I was a bit disturbed with his criticisms of my patron saints the Democrats. I wrote Dennis some emails and he was kind enough to reply. And of course though I was angry with the Democrats I for a while defended them rigorously but Dennis really made me think about my views with his thoughtful and patient replies. At any rate to cut this babble a bit shorter I started paying more attention to what the Democrats were doing and the facts were undeniable. I realized the Democrats were not only merely paying lip service to being against the Iraq War but worst still they actually support the idea of American Imperialism or neo-colonialism. Aghh! The proof is in the pudding as they say and if you read this earlier post of mine you will see what I mean.
Here.
The war in Iraq is immoral by any standards of decency. The Democrats have given Bush everything his little Grinch heart desired including financing the Iraq War well into 2009. There are now an estimated over one million deaths in Iraq as a result of the invasion. The Democrats have fully supported this war and continue to do so. In my opinion this makes voting for the Democrats an act that is immensely immoral for to vote for the Democrats is to vote in favor of the Iraq War. I simply cannot do this and will not do this in the next election. I think the clearest and best way to let our errant Democrats know that they screwed the pooch so to speak is to not vote for them. I can’t think of any other way to give them notice that we do not believe in American Imperialism no matter how they package it. Please, don’t be a Demaholic like I was.
posted by Unknown at 9:34 PM
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